This invention relates to an improved adsorber device used in absorbing or measuring solutes in soils, water, solutions or other media having solution filled interstitial space. The improved adsorber utilizes porous shells housing an adsorber material with known chemical and physical characteristics.
Previous systems have been available to collect soil or water samples, but these systems are not easily adapted for testing the adsorption rate characteristics of solutes existing in the test media. Groundwater sampling systems, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,801 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,227, only collect groundwater samples and do not have an adsorbing material in the sampling apparatus to gather data on the adsorption rates or chemical make-up of the surrounding media. With systems such as those disclosed in the above listed patents, the sampling apparatus is connected to a remote data collection device located above the ground. The above mentioned sampling devices cannot be placed throughout a test site in a free-standing mode.
Other tools have been used to obtain soil samples directly by obtaining a small portion of the soil itself within a tool. Representative examples of soil sampling tools can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,583 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,271. Although a soil sample provides a way for obtaining data through later soil analysis, such samples do not provide a convenient way for testing in-situ the defusibility, bioavailability, or uptake of specific solutes from soils, water, solutions, or other media. Removed soil samples provide information about conditions that may have existed up to the time the sample is taken, but this sampling technique is not readily adapted for analyzing on-going conditions that might exist after a soil sample is taken. In order to obtain a timed test using soil samples, a user would require an analysis on a sample taken at the beginning of the test and again on a sample taken at the end of a test to establish the net change taking place during the elapsed time of the test.
From the above it can be seen that a need exists for relatively small, free-standing adsorber devices which can be randomly placed within soil, water, or other medium, without the requirement for being connected to some other device positioned on the surface. The adsorber device should also have known adsorption characteristics and should be capable of detecting concentrations of selected ions, salts, or contaminants in solutions, standing water, or other media over time.
A further need exists for a sampler having uniform data collection characteristics. A plurality of data collection samplers, each having a uniform geometry, would permit conclusions to be drawn about the underlying conditions that might exist throughout the medium within a test site. A uniform geometry would greatly assist in the computer analysis of data obtained from any particular set of recovered samplers. This geometry would enable a user to compare results between different test sites and to calibrate the results from the sampler with those from "standard" procedures.
A need exists for apparatus and a process to collect diffusible ions simultaneously from adsorbers randomly scattered in the soil or places into samples previously collected. The present methods require several single element extractions as separate chemical procedures in order to obtain enough meaningful data for interpretation. The present invention would reduce time and material costs by replacing separate extractions with a single multi-element accumulation.
One example of a possible use of such an adsorber device would be to detect and absorb hydrocarbons leaking into soils surrounding buried storage containers.
Further such adsorber devices could be used to collect information as to the quantity of nutrients available for a plant to absorb from the surrounding soil as the plant grows.
An objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus and a process for analyzing quantities of diffusible ions available in the soil or the rate at which diffusible ions diffuse in the soil. Measurement of the extraction of elements from selected samples would give a quantitative definition of the diffusion rate of that particular element in that particular soil. Resulting data could be used, for example, to improve prediction accuracy of crop responses to fertilizer additions.
A further object is to provide apparatus and a process to measure the intensity factor of environmental availability of toxins. The intensity factor, is a function of toxin concentration and the ability of toxins to move through the medium. By measuring the intensity factor, information may be obtained to allow development of ranking criteria for potential threats of a toxin entering the food chain or contaminating ground water.
A further object is to provide apparatus and a process which may be used to evaluate and rank hazardous waste and other similar material such as mine tailings on the basis of the release rate of undesirable components.
A further object is to provide an apparatus and a process to be used as a first step in the purification of fluid extracts. It is desirable to have an adsorber device which may be placed into a solution to accumulate the free ions in the solution. The results of this process can be used to determine quantities of free ions in the solution.
A further object is to provide apparatus and a process to accumulate polar ions and certain non-polar molecules from liquid media such as petroleum products, paints, dyes, waters, waste waters, suspensions, natural and artificial soils, mine products, food products, nuclear power cooling waters, medicines, biological fluids, and others, as a means of determining quantities of ions and molecules in the medium.
A further object of the present invention is to provide apparatus and a process to accumulate diffusible solutes from waste-amended soil, to accumulate deleterious ions or chemicals from wells or other free-water sources such as lakes, streams, or from saturated soils or other porous media, in order to evaluate purity or quality aspects of the various media.